Bio:

Kolev was born on the plane of shadow, and was trained there as an assassin in service to the umbral dragon, Xlethofloris. It was clear as he grew older that he did not have the same connection to the plane as others of his kind. This was seen as a weakness by his peers and masters. He would never have the ability to transfer between planes, which was vital to the methods taught as part of his profession. Eventually he was cast out as being inferior and a liability. He was dumped into the material plane and left to fend for himself.

There he soon crossed paths with a wretched old man named Olivorthus. He was an old master of the death arts and took Kolev in as his apprentice. Together they fufilled contracts to take the lives of merchants and nobles who had at some point crossed the wrong person. They employed any and every method at thier disposal to accomplish the job to the employer’s directions, whether that be a knife in the dark or an unfortunate accident choking on an olive pit. With his previous training Kolev quickly excelled and eventually exceeded the old master. The final contract Kolev was given was for Olivorthus himself. Kolev warned the old man and urged him to go into hiding, but the old man simply said “Never turn down a contract based on your emotions, my time has come and I am ready.”

With that, he handed Kolev his dagger and turned his back to him. Kolev plunged the blade into his master’s neck, where the base of the skull and the spine meet, instantly ending the old man’s life. A week later, a minor noble of that province, who was known to employ rather unsavory methods in his political dealings, was found in the back room of a local inn with his throat slit, this same dagger sticking from his chest, and a single gold coin lying next to his head.

Kolev moved his operation to Greyhawk, in an attempt to pick up larger and more lucrative contracts. Despite his skills, he was turned away from the guilds there. His origins from outside of this plane were viewed with great suspicion. Having every other door shut in his face, he started his own guild, disguised as rat catchers. A very small and low-key operation, he handled most of the high-pay contracts personally. The members he recruited generally gathered information and were placed in key positions to ease his job, although he does hand out street level contracts to members that show promise to allow them to practice and refine their skills.

He came across Omen: post-transformation one night while fufilling a contract hit on a bookmaker who held a rather large debt over a Greyhawk merchant. The bookmaker and his hired thugs were collecting (in blood) the debt Omen owed to them. Omen had already slain two of the four, but was overcome by the bookmaker and one of his lackeys. As the were preparing to finish the young sorceror off, Kolev dropped in behind them and cut them down before they realized a third party had joined the combat. He thought briefly about finishing off Omen, but something that he could not explain stopped him. He simply had the feeling that his fate was intertwined with the profusely bleeding, half-dead man laying at his feet. He picked him up and snuck him back to his hideout beneath a local blacksmith shop (also a friend of his guild). There he had Omen’s wounds tended to. The sorceror slept for several days while he healed. When he woke, Kolev explained to him that by saving his life, and slaying the man who held his debt, Omen now owed his life to him and would serve by his side as his right hand man. Omen agreed to this, simply being happy to be among the realm of the living. As time passed, they discovered that their past shared a similar story and they worked very well together.

Not all was well though. The guilds that were already well-established withing Greyhawk did not take well to this group of newcomers. The Ratcatcher’s Guild lost several men in the shadow wars that erupted as a result and was forced to accept terms with the other guilds that put them at great disadvantage. They could only accept the cast off contracts that the other guilds did not want, or had no time for, and even then had to pay a large percentage to the other guilds. As a result, again Kolev was forced to look outside of Greyhawk for better work for him and his guild members. Thus, he took to the road with Omen is search of a new home.